Congressman Denny Heck Tacoma Reception

 

This evening Lisa and I went to the Tacoma reception for Congressman Denny Heck. We met him the first time at ABC Day on October 1st, but Lisa didn’t get the chance to meet him up close and personal then because she was taking copious pictures to document the meeting between Mr. Heck and me at my book table. And since he’s an “establishment” politician, I didn’t think she’d be much interested in meeting him anyway.

 

But when I found out there was going to be a reception for him, because she’s a Precinct Committee Officer, I thought I’d ask if she wanted to tag along and perhaps meet some of her constituents and other DEM party leaders, past and present. She agreed to go if I promised not to run off and abandon her at the event. (Since we’re both wallflowers, she knew that my running off was very unlikely to happen, but she wanted assurances that I’d stick with her. I promised.)

 

When Denny stopped by my table early on to say hello to me (using my first name without any prompting at all!) and to let me know that my book was still in his car waiting for him to slow down enough to pick it up and read it (he’s a little busy right now, as you can well imagine, this close to the November 8th election!), Lisa was AWOL (taking a phone call out in the hall), so I had to waylay him again when she returned to introduce her to him and request a photo op, which he graciously  consented to. The photo turned out just great. (Gads, they almost look like brother and sister or father and daughter in this photo!)

 

The people at our table were friendly, chatty and fascinating as all get out, so we enjoyed the heck out of their stories. We exchanged contact information so we can stay in touch.

 

One of the gentleman, 81 year old David, is writing two books–one on meditation for men, and one on old barns (for which he has more than 3500 images that he took to illustrate it). Both Lisa and I want copies of the barn book when it comes out…

 

An Asian American introduced Denny to the crown (and it was a crowd–the room was packed!). Denny spent forty minutes talking about his experiences as a Congressman (one of them was hysterically funny!) and answering questions about his stance on issues, including the Trans Pacific Partnership. He feels pretty sure that Congress won’t be addressing it during the lame duck session between November 8th and January 21st 2017, but since President Obama has expressed interest in it, he is still studying it minutely–all 5,000 plus pages!–so he can offer a nuanced opinion if it does happen.

 

He has four major concerns about the TPP that need to be addressed before he could even consider supporting it, and he covered those in some detail. He is definitely NOT on board the TPP bus (I knew this already) although he acknowledges value in some of the other aspects of it. But it sounded to me like unless his serious concerns are addressed and corrected, his vote will be NO on TPP should the matter come before Congress between now and January 20, 2017.

 

The more I hear him, the more I like him. He feels truly honored and humbled to be one of our representatives in D.C. He says he never forgets that he’s a REPRESENTATIVE. He’s there to fight for us.  I believe him.

 

I videotaped the whole thing. If I get permission, I will post it here or on  my YouTube page so you can see and hear what we experienced tonight. It was pretty heartwarming. He “gets” it. His staff adores him–and respects him. He’s the full meal deal. (My opinion.)

 

The funny thing is that we spent 90 minutes at this very political gathering and not once were HRC or DT mentioned by name… but Denny did say that our votes always matter but they matter HUGELY this year–and the results will resound and affect policies for years. He said, “No matter who it is you support, be sure to vote. “